BMW confirmed it has reached agreement to sell the rights to the Rover brand name, but did not name the buyer.

The German auto maker last week said it was in talks with Chinese auto group Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, but claimed at the time that no deal had been signed yet.

A BMW spokesman said that before the sale of the Rover brand rights is finalised, it must wait 90 days to see if Ford wants to use its purchase option.

Ford was allowed a purchase option when it bought Land Rover from BMW in 2000.

A spokeswoman for BMW said: "We are still at a point where we have a sales agreement, but the sale has not been completed.

"We are talking to a number of people, and the matter will be completed in the next few weeks." Earlier this month The Post revealed that Shanghai - one of the failed bidders for MG Rover - had clinched a deal to buy the name in an £11.5 million deal.

BMW, which kept the rights to the name after it pulled out of Rover in 2000, initially denied a deal had been sealed.

A new badge has been designed and will be used on the new Rover 25s and 75s SAIC plans to produce this year. A stretch version of the Rover 75 is also planned by SAIC, which won intellectual property rights to the cars.

Peter Cooke, professor of automotive industry management at Nottingham Business School, said: "It would be logical for Shanghai to buy the Rover name as they have aspirations to get into Europe, although how strong the name is after all the years in the mire is another matter.

"Rover is a global brand and the Chinese are obsessional about brands. It is a high price, but brands are worth a lot of money and take a long time to build up. This is a brand that is available and could kick start their plans to sell internationally."